(ZENIT News / Rome, 07.02.2024).- Two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests have been released 19 months after they were seized by Russian authorities in south-East Ukraine.
Redemptorist Fathers Ivan Levitsky and Bohdan Geleta were freed last Friday 28th June, according to a statement published by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC).
Bishop Andriy Khimyak, Auxiliary Bishop of Kyiv and Father Oleksa Petriv, Head of the UGCC’s external relations department welcomed the clergymen on their release.
Russian forces detained the priests in occupied Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast on 16th November 2022, charging them with sabotage and espionage.
The UGCC denied allegations by Russian military officials who claimed to have found weapons, ammunition and a military map hidden in a church.
Fathers Levitsky and Geleta had decided to stay in the occupied region to minister to both Greek and Roman Catholic communities.
The priests’ whereabouts were uncertain during their captivity, and some reports indicated that they were tortured.
Since they were freed, the UGCC has not released any information about their physical condition.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the UGCC, expressed his gratitude to the Holy See for the “rescue” of the priests, particularly Pope Francis and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as well as Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine and “the entire diplomatic corps of the Vatican”.
Pope Francis said during Sunday 30th June Angelus: “I give thanks to God for the freeing of the two Greek Catholic priests. May all the prisoners of this war soon return home.”
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